By Takuya Iiyama

And

Koichiro Gaetdgens

What is alcoholism?IntroductionRussia

Public PolicyDecision MakerManner of ConsultationStakeholderExtra info

a primary, chronic disease, with genetic , psychological, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestation

This means due to drinking too much alcohol, people cannot stop easily anymore. It is kind of poisoning.

At beginning, Russia had quite high consumption rates for drinking alcohol

15.76 liters per year, 4th highest volume in Europe

Vodka (about 40 levels) is the most famous alcohol in Russia.

This was initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev

Limited the shops for alcohols

Closing many vodka distilleries and wine vineyards

Before 2 o'clock afternoon, restaurants were not allowed to sell alcohol.

Increased the price of alcohol

Mikhail Gorbachev:General Secretary of USSRLaunched this campaign firstDecided all decisions at last such as price  of alcohol (ex: increase

by 25%)

Government of Russia:Supported Mikhail GorbachevSuggested the plans

*Gorbachev's wife, Raisa, his daughter, Mikhailovna Virginskaya, and two members from Politburo also took major roles to convince him to build this campaign.

Replacement of previous legislation:

Anti-alcohol campaign in 1980 (by Leonid Brezhnev)

Anti-alcohol campaign in 1982-1984 (by Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko)

Anti-alcohol campaign in 1985

The affected people are basically the consumers. 1985 the average consumption of alcohol was about 18 liter pure alcohol. To let imagine easier, it is about 360 liters of beer

Through many counter plans the Gorbachev Regime made between 1985 and 1990 it is told that a million people were saved.

Because government banned too many things at same time, citizens in Russia started to create secret bar that not many people could notice easily.

It was fine until 1987, but after 1987, people started to notice that, so alcohol consumption rate went up instead.

Takuya: I think it is good thing to try citizens to stop drinking alcohol too much because it really affects to their body heavily, but banning alcohol too much suddenly is not the best idea. The government must think more, and little by little, they can ban such as at first, they can only higher prices of alcohol such as by 10%. Then, after that if citizens still drink too much, they can start to close bars. So, I think government did too much.

Koichiro: My opinion is to agree with it. Being healthy is the most important thing, so Russia should more stronger support this campaign

1. What do you think about this campaign? Agree? Disagree?

2. Why do you think people might drink alcohol too much?

ALCOHOL IN RUSSIA, OXFORD JOURNALS. March, 1999. Retrieved on December 6th, 2012 from

http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/content/34/6/824.full

1985: Anti-Alcohol Campaign, Soviet History. October, 2012. Retrieved on December 6th, 2012 from

http://www.soviethistory.org/index.php?page=subject&SubjectID=1985drylaw&Year=1985

Polls in Russia – backing Vladimir Putin and banning alcohol, telegraph. September, 2009. Retrieved on December 6th, 2012 from

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/russianow/6121755/Polls-in-Russia-backing-Vladimir-Putin-and-banning-alcohol.html